SHENZHEN, China — The Shenzhen Stock Exchange has begun listing Qingdao Sentury Tire Co. Ltd.'s stock, making Sentury the 10th Chinese tire company to be publicly listed. The company's stock began trading on Sept. 11, under the stock code 002984, with an issue price of 18.96 Yuan/share ($2.95) and an issue price-earnings ratio of 16.6 times, Sentury said. Sentury, the 12th largest tire maker in China and 37th largest worldwide based on fiscal 2020 sales of $728 million, said this issuance and listing will "usher in a new round of development." "The company will take this issuance and listing as an opportunity to continuously improve the management level, carefully implement new projects and comprehensively enhance competitiveness," it said. This was Sentury's second attempt at public listing. It filed its first application in 2018, and the review was terminated in January 2019. In a June 2020 securities filing, the tire maker said that the capital raised from the offering will fund its ongoing aircraft tire project in Qingdao with a $50 million investment and 80,000 units/year capacity, including 50,000 retreads/year.. It will also finance the $5 million upgrading of Sentury's research centre, such as building a tire proving ground and adding NVH testing and dynamic footprint testing to the company's research capabilities. Earlier this year, Sentury announced its " 833plus " strategy, aiming for eight tire plants, three research centres and three "customer-experience" centers within 10 years. The manufacturing expansion targets: three tire plants in China, two in Thailand and one each in Europe, Africa and North American, said the report released in February. As set out in the Chinese group's annual report, the ambitious strategy also envisages the acquisition of one international tire maker by 2031. Sentury is represented in North America by by Sentury Tire USA Inc. in Miami; the company goes to market with the Delinte, Landsail, Groundspeed and Sentury brands.
